Cessna & Faulk Family Funiture Donated to Sam Houston Center

LIBERTY, August 12, 2010 - Donald E. Cessna of Lufkin, Texas, has donated several pieces of Cessna and Faulk family furniture to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. The pieces include a plantation desk and chair dating from ca. 1898-1910, a walnut china cabinet dating from the 1930s, and an oak dining table and chairs from the 1930s.

The plantation desk was first used in the home of the donor’s grandparents Adelia Green and Ed T. Cessna of Hardin, Texas and has been used by other Cessna family members including Donald Cessna and his wife Mary Jane. Adelia Cessna used it to keep her books for the ranch. The china cabinet and dining set were purchased by Arthur and Jimmy Faulk of Hardin, Texas in the 1930s and have been used by other family members up to the present. Arthur Faulk’s parents, Garlan and Mae Faulk, opened a grocery store in Hardin in 1928 that was operated by the Faulk family until the store closed in the early 1950s. Donald Cessna’s mother, Dorothy Faulk Cessna, was the daughter of Garlan and Mae Faulk.

The desk and china cabinet are currently on exhibit in the museum of the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, and the dining table and chairs will be displayed in the Jean and Price Daniel House on the grounds of the Center.

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, a part of the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, is located three miles north of Liberty on FM 1011, off of State Highway 146. The Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For further information, telephone 936-336-8821 or write to P. O. Box 310, Liberty, TX 77575-0310.

By Lisa Meisch, Museum Curator, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, Liberty.